Discussion

Ice Cream in San Diego, Ice Cream Cakes?

What are some good places for ice cream? There are some flavors I like at Baskin Robins, but there must be something better. In Hawaii there's a great chain called Lapperts which is really good. Fully creamy, lots of good flavors. Their plain vanilla is wonderful. The closest place so far is at the Hotel Coronado, which is a 40 minutes drive.

Places we've tried as far as I remember:Baskin Robins - Good Jamocha almond fudge (i.e. much better than Dryer's)Golden Spoon - Like their toppingsCold Stones - Good if you want mixed ice creamHotel Coronado - Very good, but very far and tourist prices ;-)

Although Hawaii isn't what you'd think of when it comes to food (their fine dining is very limited), they do have some excellent niches in food when it comes to shaved ice (amazing and cheap), ginger ale (real ginger ale), bbq soy sauce corn, and finally Lappert's ice cream. These things made our vacation (the view and ocean were nice too). Thanks to chowhound we've checked off shaved ice from our list:http://www.chow.com/profile/181707

Also looking for a good ice cream cake. My wife won't eat Baskin Robin's, and Trader Joe's discontinued the brand I used to get.

I have only had Mariposa's ice cream once - during the Adams Avenue Street Fair this year. It was a very hot day when most any ice cream would taste great, but I was very disappointed by their Cherry Vanilla. It was tasteless. Are there any flavors that stand out?

For gelato try Pappalecco and Chocolat. Chocolat has two locations in Hillcrest and downtown. We prefer the one downtown which is a nice place to end a night after some cocktails. Pappalecco had also two locations in Little Italy and Hillcrest. Little Italy seems to be the better one. Overall we found the gelato at Chocolat to be more consistent and flavorful.

Agreed that Pappalecco's in LI is better than the Hillcrest location, but I like the food better in Hillcrest. I've only tried the gelato at Chocolat in Hillcrest and really, really liked it. Didn't like the noise level so much, hard to a carry on a conversation with the person sitting across the small table.

Mariposa is the best, Dick and Anna are always on top of great flavors, they make everything on site, using great ingredients. I refuse to go anyplace else. You should call them and see if they can make one for you.

There's actually a Lappert's in SD County, between Scripps Ranch & Poway. If you're on the 15, exit Scripps Poway Pkwy and head east several miles, it's on the right side in the same plaza as Carl's Jr. I don't know if they have ice cream cakes though.

The Lapperts here and the one in Hawaii have different corp parents. They both claim to be the true Lapperts. I thought the one in Honolulu was better, but then having a scoop of macadamia fudge while sitting on the beach looking at Diamond Head may have something to do with that.